The conference seeks to bridge science, public understanding and political action on climate change adaptation and mitigation with the goal of identifying and evaluating public policy options for effective and timely action on climate related threats and opportunities. Panel topics will include: climate modeling, impacts on ecological systems, implications for law and policy, and upcoming interdisciplinary funding opportunities in climate change research.

The panels will provide a forum for experts from multiple disciplines at The University of Texas at Austin from schools and departments, including the LBJ School, Jackson School of Geosciences, Chemical Engineering, Geophysics, the Center for Space Research, the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Biology, Geography, the School of Architecture, CIEEP and the Institute for Innovation, Creativity and Capital.

Ray Orbach, director of The University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute, a multi-disciplinary institute that combines the strengths of the university's schools and colleges to advance solutions to today's energy-related challenges, will also participate.

In addition to representing a large array of disciplinary input, the conference will also include international perspectives from panel participants and speakers from Canada's University of Lethbridge, members of the Canadian Consulate and professors from Hiroshima University in Japan.

The conference's scope also reaches beyond academia with speakers from Austin Energy, Solar Austin, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Environmental Defense Fund.

The conference will center on implications for climate adaptation for water resources management, with a particular focus on how computer-assisted dispute resolution mechanisms can be used to aid cooperative community responses to climate change risks, and a half-day symposium on education for a low-carbon society.

This event is co sponsored by The University of Lethbridge, the Canadian Partnership Initiative in Support of the United Nations Water for Life Decade, the Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation of Hiroshima University and four units of The University of Texas at Austin: the Environmental Science Institute, the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, the Institute for Innovation, Creativity and Capital and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Pubic Affairs.